The Untapped Opportunity in Gaming for Brands
I attended @The Future of Gaming conference on the 12th October in central London organised by Adwanted Events
The overall focus was the opportunity for brands and marketing in the world of gaming.
The key themes that arose from my perspective were:
The gaming industry is huge
Gamers are a much broader audience than you think
It is an opportunity to properly engage with your audience
It is much simpler to get involved than you think
It is currently a huge missed opportunity for brands
1. The Gaming Industry is Huge
It has been projected to be worth $334 billion in 2023 (source: statista.com)
For some perspective, the global sports industry is projected to be worth $512 billion in 2023 (source: statista.com)
That's ALL sport....globally.
With current growth estimations, it will surpass the sports industry in four years (some think a sooner).
And for an idea of scale of the companies involved
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are the Big 3 in game publishing
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard (a Game Publisher) by Microsoft was approved on the day of the conference.
Microsoft will be paying a reported $69 BILLION for it.
And for quick reference:
Twitter was bought by Musk for $44bn
Chat GPT is currently valued at $29bn
XBox have even made a film showing all of the characters from their different gaming universes coming together as one family.
Launched on YouTube the day after the announcement. Worth a quick look here.
2. Audience Figures:
There are 3.2billion gamers globally
700million play Console Games
1 billion play on PCs
2.7 billion play on mobiles
49% of gamers are women.
(Source: Adverty)
And yes, what that means is that if you play Candy Crush or Wordle....you are a 'Gamer'
Welcome:)
3. Advice from the experts and professional gamers on how to get involved:
The barrier for involvement is low in gaming, compared to an industry like film where product integration so easily detracts from the audience's involvement in the story.
The challenge in gaming is that you have an audience who is very wise to a brand that is not showing up 'authentically'
So...
Be clear on KPIs
Work with people, teams and agencies that truly know the industry
Spend time identifying real insights in the gaming universe and communities within that universe
Be authentic...which also translates as be honest...which also translates to 'don't bullshit the audience'
Add value to gamers. Examples of 'value' here could be support, growing a community, giveaways and/or sheer entertainment.
Have fun with your brand
Be prepared to laugh with gamers and your audience
Be brave.
Try it.
Start small and test...your first foray into gaming does NOT need to be creating a new world in Fortnite.
4. Some Great Examples Shared:
EE
Positioning itself as the No.1 destination for gaming.
So they build an EE Game Store in Fortnite, and players could raid it to win real prizes.
Watch to this gamer on a YouTube Short explain the concept.
L'Oreal's Prada 'Candy' fragrance
Partnered CandyCrush
The bottle was integrated into the game
All 40k samples were requested within 24 hours
6.6% click through rate of players to the site = 1,800% traffic growth!
Heinz
Listened to their audience and discovered they needed a safe place to hide in their game so they could take a break and eat.
"Heinz hidden spots" was born
"Talk To Me' Film Launch
A horror film about a creepy seance hand.
The team working with @havas created a game in Fortnite inspired by the film.
YT Short of the quest explained here
Amazing stat about the level of engagement in the brand:
The film is 1h 35mins
The average play time was 55mins
Delivered 1.5x box office target
There is a sequel on the way
And finally
A very insightful point made by Nick Westwood from Guild Esports
The global sports industry is underpinned by brands and advertising investment
Gaming has emerged...to the vast scale that is has...without these.
The accessibility for brands into gaming is so much simpler and richer than in film or TV....now is your chance to get involved.